Shaking Off the Rust

I did a double day weekend. I went to Silvermoon (Aumsville, OR) on Saturday and Dusk Hollow (Dallas, OR) on Sunday. Saturday was mostly a normal day, there was no special event, but something interesting did happen. Then on Sunday there was the Arcana fighter practice at Dusk Hollow, which I recorded a few videos from. On top of that, a few of my videos have popped off, at least compared to my usual, so I plan on sparing a few paraphs on that near the end.

Saturday

Indra got to do something he always wanted to do, play a ditcher in a class battle game. He’s been talking about there being some sort of class that was immune to all magic and abilities, both harmful and helpful, so Ice Blast wouldn’t work, nor would Resurrection or Heal. All spell balls would count as projectiles when they hit. The class can use all melee weapons and shields of any sizes. It wasn’t till that day that someone said sure, we’ll call it a monster and play test it. Indra was ecstatic.

Every time Indra talks about this class he gets it in his head that I hate the idea for some reason. I thought it was fine, I was just realistic and told him that I don’t think it would ever become an official class. I think the idea is interesting and I’m glad he has finally gotten to play it. Spoiler, he loved it!

I also tried it out. I filled in one round for Vale and I did enjoy myself. It was nice not having to worry about any crowd control abilities. It was very freeing; all I had to worry about was who I was going to fight and any projectiles that might be flying my way. I don’t know about the balance. It made no real difference in the two games that Indra played in, other than it actually got Indra to be in a class battle. I’m unsure of the balance if used more widely. I doubt it will take off but it’s nice they are letting Indra (and I guess me) test it out at our local park.

Other than playing that one round and talking with people I haven’t seen in a while, I didn’t do much actual Amtgard that day, but I did get some video. I got two YouTube Shorts and a Amtgard Fights video from the day. I’ll link my videos at the end of the blog if you’d like to take a look.

Sunday

Spoiler alert, Sunday was my fun day. I got there early, along with the Arcana members, who’s practice was taking place before the start of Dusk Hollow. I got some decent video, but what I’d really like to talk about is all the fun I had.

After their practice opened up to other members, and I was done with video recording, I picked up a shield and short sword and joined the ditch. I had a blast, plus I was doing fairly well. I even killed all three players on the other side and ended up by myself vs four people. It was a few rounds before I got a kill, but I had some good starts where I was able to divide the pack, legging someone and moving on.

The ditch didn’t go on very long, but long enough that everyone wanted to take a short break and it was decently short. It wasn’t long till some more people showed up and we started another ditch. That’s where I really began to feel like I was having fun. I grabbed a short sword (thanks for the loaner Critias), and joined in the ditch.

I don’t remember the precise time we started, but I know I fought for at least half an hour straight, maybe up to an hour. I fought long enough that as I’m sitting here writing this I am still pretty sore. My shoulders from swinging the sword, lower back/waist area from twisting, my legs due to bending my knees and bursts of movement and even my hand from gripping the sword is swore. Every bit of me was out of shape and not used to the movements of fighting.

Despite the soreness I’m dealing with now, I don’t regret getting out there and having the fun I had. Not only was it fun, I was told by a few others that I was doing pretty good and I have to agree. I got kills with my short sword and some pretty good ones actually. I was pretty consistent, especially considering how rusty I am.

There was one fight where Cid moved to far in front of his line and I said fuck it, he’s close enough, I could rush his side and kill him before he could block. I knew I’d die in the process, but I mentally shrugged and went for it. I rushed in, killing him and in return a person with a great sword tagged my arm and a few people swung, but in the end, I stood there alive and Cid was dead. Everyone stood around there stunned, no one moved into kill me for what seemed like an eternity, but was likely more like 5 seconds.

I was stunned, how was I not dead? I still don’t know how it happened, but if I hadn’t assumed I was going to die, I may very well gotten a few more kills. I wasn’t the only one stunned at what happened. After the moment passed we all chuckled about it and no one really understood why no one moved it. It was just one of those weird and surprising moments.

That was the only fighting I got that day, mainly because it was the last ditch of the day. I felt really good and I’m looking forward to more fighting in the future!

YouTube and TikTock Videos

Last night I posted a TikTok video, one that I posted on YouTube, called Critias the Killer. It had performed well on YouTube, at least for me, so I figured I should put it to music, and publish it on TikTok and so I did. I went to bed thinking nothing of it. I figured if it was doing well I might have a few hundred views and maybe 20 or so likes.

Much to my surprise, when I woke up and looked at the video I had 1800+ views and 80+ likes. I was blown away. To put it into perspective my highest viewed video 1455 views and 31 likes and that video was posted in October of 2020. I can’t wait to see if this translates to my videos getting even more views in the future. I can’t wait to find out. I’ve already gotten 10 or so new followers.

While at the park Saturday I posted the YouTube video of Critias the Killer and I shared it around the local Amtgard Facebook Groups. If you haven’t seen it (Link Below), take a watch. Between Saturday and Monday the video had around 60 views, which is pretty good for me. I was happy. Then, when I woke up this morning (Tuesday), after I already was hyped from the success of my TikTok, I found that it had 255 views and 9 likes. I was like “Holy Shit”! That’s more than any views or likes I’ve had yet.

To top it off, as I’m writing this, just after the last paraph I wrote actually, I checked the YouTube video and I got an additional 100 views and 3 more likes. It’s only been two hours! It must have gotten picked up by the algorithm last night and is still doing the rounds. I had two big hits of dopamine this morning.

The Future

I look forward to putting out more videos. I have a few already edited and ready to go. It’s been hard not posting them, when they are done, I really want to share them, but for growth’s sake it’s best if I release them over time. I plan on continuing adding videos, it’s seeing success like this that really makes me feel like I’m going in the right direction. It’s great!

I’m going to be doing Amtgard interviews with people at park in the future. They will be shorter videos, I’m aiming for 15-30 minutes, just to highlight other players. I don’t intend this to just be a series of popular Amtgarders, but also the “average” Amtgarder. So look for that over the next few months. I should start recording them in the next few weeks. I just don’t know what my editing schedule will be like.

Next week I’ll be attending Mystic Seas (Troutdale, OR). There is a knights meeting that I shouldn’t miss, but I’m sure I’ll get in some whacks too and of course record some videos.

Videos

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